MACROMEDIA DRUMBEAT 2000 ECOMMERCE EDITION, User Manual

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7
INTRODUCTION
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Developing an e-Commerce Site
The development cycle for each e-Commerce project is unique. If your
e-Commerce site has been completely thought out and documented in
specifications, you will be applying those requirements and figuring out how
you will meet them using Drumbeat
TM
. If you come with ideas and notions of an
e-Commerce site, you will, most likely, be investigating how the features of eStore
fit in with your vision. No matter what your starting point is, one aspect of
developing a site, any site, holds true. This aspect is that the more work and
time you spend on the project, the more intricate your site will become. The
natural progression is to start simple and then add more complex functionality
and usability.
Studies found that the most significant business goals in the decision to deploy e-
Commerce applications are to create or maintain a competitive edge, and to
improve customer satisfaction.
To create a competitive edge, the site must be functionally sophisticated, and to
improve customer satisfaction the site must be very user friendly. Luckily, these
two goals go hand and hand. As the complexity increases, the site developer, or
team, watches and carefully plans out the user experience.
If you are working with a corporate site, you most likely have guidelines that
include a corporate identity, conventions, and deployment systems. You are
probably working with a project team that includes a mix of people with different
talents. Together you complete the project using your knowledge and expertise,
ranging from Information Technology, writing, and graphic art skills.
On the other hand, you could be the cowboy out there all alone, trying to be
cross-functional and develop the site completely on your own. You might have
knowledge in some or all of the areas that are required to develop an e-Commerce
site, or you may want to out source the skills you lack.
No matter where you fit into this spectrum, eStore will help you complete the
project rapidly.